Village chief gunned down in Indonesia

The Indonesian military gunned down a village head in the troubled province of Aceh and threatened to shoot others urging a boycott of coming national elections, human rights activists say.

"Intimidation is increasing and this is just the tip of the iceberg," said Hamzah, head of the Aceh Referendum Information Centre, a human rights group in the province on the tip of Sumatra island.

But a military spokesman denied that security forces were terrorising Acehnese in the run-up to parliamentary elections on April 5 and a presidential ballot on July 5.

"We are committed to ensuring elections take place. These activists are just trying to discredit us," said Lieutenant Colonel Asep Sapari.

Soldiers shot a village head, identified as Nurdin Rahman, at his home in Pidie town, after he refused to provide a list of villagers who had not registered to vote, said Hamzah.

He was speaking on behalf of a regional coalition of non-governmental groups.